The Riches of Spain: Its Cheese; A New Appetite In America

By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Published: May 10, 2000

CHEESES from Spain were once a rarity in American shops. Now, even supermarkets are selling mild, ivory Manchego, and the more powerful Cabrales and Mahon are becoming easier to find, too.

But leaving it at that would be like representing Italy only with Parmesan, pecorino and fontina. Or just being able to buy Brie, Roquefort and Montrachet from France.

Like those countries, Spain produces scores of distinctive cheeses. But in Spain, many are still made in tiny batches, sometimes on farms with just a single herd of sheep or goats. These mom-and-pop producers make just enough to supply their villages.

''Most of them are very local, just farmers who made traditional cheeses for their area,'' said Jose Guerra, the marketing manager for Foods From Spain in New York, a government trade group. In fact, Mr. Guerra said, until recently you couldn't even find these regional cheeses in Madrid.

It seems something of a miracle that over the last few years so many of these assertive, richly nutty cheeses have begun making their way to America, thanks in part to the Spanish government's promotion and also because of the growing interest among cheese connoisseurs here. More than 1.5 million pounds of Spanish cheese were imported last year, up from just over 650,000 pounds in 1995, according to the United States Commerce Department. But even now, some varieties, like the smoky Idiazabal, are available only sporadically.

They are worth seeking out -- in some respects, even more than many of the imported French varieties. Many of the best traditional French cheeses are made from unpasteurized milk and aged less than 60 days, so they don't comply with United States government regulations. (Many Bries and Camemberts are modified for export and made with pasteurized milk.) But with Spanish cheese, it's possible to sample the best here: though most are made from unpasteurized milk, a great many traditional Spanish cheeses have always been aged more than 60 days.

''French cheeses have become more compromised by industrialization and demand,'' said Max McCalman, the cheese expert at Picholine in Manhattan. ''Now is a good time to get Spanish cheese, before it is industrialized.''

More Spanish cheeses are made from sheep's milk or goat's milk than from cow's milk. Many are made from a mixture of the three, which varies depending on the season. Though many people may think of sharp pecorino as typical of sheep's milk cheeses, in Spain they vary from buttery to strongly assertive.

''Spanish cheeses are more artisanal and look less factory-made,'' said Kevin Tyldesley, the cheese buyer at Gramercy Tavern. ''But there's a lot less diversity of style. For example, I haven't come across really soft, soft cheeses like Camemberts or triple creams from France.''

Gramercy Tavern is on a growing list of restaurants serving Spanish cheese. Picholine, Hell's Kitchen and Acquario also buy them, as do places that serve Spanish food, including Solera, Placido Domingo's, Meigas and Bolo. Most of the time, they're on the cheese tray or the tapas menu, although Bolo routinely makes salads with Cabrales, Spain's great blue cheese, and Hell's Kitchen uses Manchego and Idiazabal in its quesadillas.

The best way to begin a love affair with Spanish cheese is to taste. Visit a good cheese shop -- one that is well stocked and has a high turnover -- and ask for sample slivers of three or four. Then buy two to take home and nibble with some cured ham or olives at cocktail time, the way the Spaniards do. Or serve them with fresh or dried fruit, or a drizzle of honey at the end of dinner. Some cheese shops sell membrillo, winy Spanish quince paste, which often accompanies wedges of cheese for dessert.

Manchego, Spain's most popular cheese, is good for novices. For one thing, the cheese has eye appeal: dark rinds of the thick cylinders are beautifully patterned with close crosshatching from the molds in which they are made. Manchego is a sheep's milk cheese usually aged three months to a year, during which time its pale off-white interior gradually deepens to ivory. It has a relatively mild flavor, especially when young, and hints of walnuts as it ages. Chunks of aged manchego are delicious steeped for an hour or so in fruity olive oil. Two other cheeses, Zamorano and Castellano, are similar to Manchego, and many people prefer their somewhat more complex flavor.

Iberico, unlike the others, is a factory-made cheese that has less character than the traditional varieties; cheese exporters expected it would have more appeal and began promoting it about nine years ago, Mr. Guerra said.

Mahon, a cow's milk cheese from the island of Minorca, with an orange rind, has the kind of nuttiness with buttery overtones you might associate with aged Monterey Jack and is good used just the same way.

Roncal, a classic firm-textured sheep's milk cheese from Navarre, in northern Spain, has been made for more than 1,000 years and was the first of about a dozen cheeses to be given an official appellation, or denominacion de origen. A deep ivory cheese with saltiness tempered with a touch of sweet, it is excellent when used like Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Torta del Casar is an aromatic satiny sheep's milk cheese that can become as fluently lush and full flavored as Vacherin.